The federal government may soon allow a wider security role for private security companies in the country, especially in terms of urban security. The National Security Adviser, retired General Andrew Azazi, said this at a one-day security conference organised by J.K. Randle Professional Services, in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser. The summit, held in Lagos with the theme “Security and Risk Management on Land, in the Air and at Sea”, was aimed at addressing various challenges regarding security of lives, property and investment.

General Azazi, a former Chief of Defence Staff, said he envisaged a situation where some city authorities could engage the services of private security companies to compliment the efforts of the police in checking urban crime. “Private security could be organised in big cities, like we have in Durban, South Africa”, he said. “We can encourage that, while we work on our police”.

The National Security Adviser however emphasized the need to address the fundamentals of governance as the sure way of improving security, stating that poverty, unemployment and corruption are socio-economic factors that undermine security of lives and property. He said: “For us to have effective security, to me, is for us to begin to look at the quality of life in our environment, which is now more important than any invasion from other countries. Whatever it takes to make human lives better and progressive, is security”.